Quote:
‘The Green Belt is a Labour initiative and we intend to build on it’. John Prescott (1938-)
The News:
North Korea scrapping all accords with the South and on the brink of war.
The Numbers:
Greenwich Mean Time, with expectations and previous figures in brackets.
(23:30) JP December Jobless 4.4%, Job-to-Applicant 0.72, versus 3.9% and 0.76 November.
(23:30 )JP January Tokyo CPI +0.5% Y/Y, Ex-fresh Food +0.5%, versus revised +0.8% and +0.8% December.
(23:30) JP December National CPI +0.4% Y/Y, Ex-fresh Food +0.2%, versus +1.0% and +1.0% November.
(23:30) JP December Household Spending –4.6% Y/Y versus –0.5% November.
(23:50) JP December Industrial Production –9.6% M/M, -20.6% Y/Y, versus –8.5% and –16.6% November.
00:01 GB January GfK Consumer Confidence –37 versus –33 December.
05:00 JP December Housing Starts 1.001M annualised, Construction Orders –27.3% Y/Y, vs 0.954M and –12.5% Nov.
09:30 GB December Net Consumer Credit (£0.5B to £1.0B, Dwellings £0.5B to £0.7B, vs £0.8B and £0.7B November).
09:30 GB December Mortgage Approvals (23K to 29K versus 27K November).
10:00 EZ16 January CPI (+1.2% to +1.7% Y/Y versus +1.6% December).
10:00 EZ15 December Unemployment (7.8% to 8.1% versus 7.8% November).
13:30 US Q4 GDP (-4.5% to –6.6% Q/Q annualised, Core PCE +0.1% to +2.1%, Employment Cost Index +0.4% to +0.8%, versus –0.5%, +2.4% and +0.7% Q3).
13:30 CA November GDP (-0.8% to +0.1% M/M versus –0.1% October).
14:45 US January Chicago Purchasing Managers (29.9 to 38.8 versus 35.1 December).
15:00 US January University of Michigan Consumer Confidence Survey (60 to 65 versus 61.9 December).
The Psychology:
President Obama criticises US bankers for paying themselves $18B in bonuses for 2008.
The Risk:
See where markets close on last day of the week and the month.
Today’s most interesting chart: Russian rouble
Weakest ever; worry about another 1998 collapse.
